Earth Not So Old

Earth may have taken much longer to form after the birth of the solar system than was previously believed—making it a mere 4.467 billion years old, compared to its previously estimated age of 4.567 billion years. Geologists made the new calculations by comparing chemicals from the earth's mantle with those from meteorites, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The researchers say that while the earth probably grew to 60% of its current size quite quickly after the formation of the solar system, it took much longer—up to 100 million years—for the outer layers of the planet to form in a process of continual slowdown.
(More Earth stories.)